Course of Life

Hooshyar Khayam (b. 1978) is an Iranian pianist and composer. He is born in London into a family of Iranian artists. His father Massoud Khayam is a novelist, and his mother Pariyoush Ganji painter.

Khayam has established himself as a versatile musician, active as composer, as a soloist, and as an improvisor in contemporary classics, contemporary Jazz, in world music, and in music for film, theater, video-art, and animation. His music is performed by artists such as Hossein Alizadeh, Massoud Shaari, Aram Talalyan, Wayne Foster-Smith, Todd Palmer, Zsofia Boros, Isabel Villanueva, Golfam Khayam, Elina Bertina, Artur Avanesov, Stephen Prutsman, Anja Lechner, and the Kronos Quartet among others.

Khayam's released solo albums include “Tatari” (Hermes Records, 2007) "Thousand Acacias" (Hermes Records, 2010),“All Of You” (Hermes Records, 2010), "Sea's Seven Days" (Contemporary Music Records, 2010), "Verses of the Night" (Contemporary Music Records, 2011), "Verses in the Wind" (featuring vocal artist Farzaneh Joorabchi, under publication), "Prayers" (Doberman edition, 2012), "Strings" (Hermes Records, 2012), and has appeared in number of other albums together with various artists.

He has been performed at Lincoln Center, Spoleto festival, BOZAR Theater Brussels, Stefaniensaal Graz, Vortex Jazz London, Steinway Society San Francisco, University of Cambridge, University of London, and has hold concerts in Moscow, Tbilisi, Kiev, Riga, Berlin, New York, Charleston, Florence, Graz, Linz, London, Yerevan, and in Tehran.

The production of Chekhov's "Ivanov" (2012) (Mehr Theater Group, director Amir Reza Koohestani) with original music by Khayam has been on a complete yearly tour in Iran with over 70 performances in the capital, and is scheduled for a European tour starting with live performance Festival Theaterformen Hanover and Bozar Brussels 2013 summer season, and for Basel performance (Theater Basel, Switzerland) August 2014.

His filmography include music to animation "Namayesh" (2003) by Elika Hedayat, documentary film "These Days, Those Days" (2011) and video-arts "Exhale" (2013) and "Immigration" (2014) by Pooya Arianpour, "Monir" (2013) by Bahman Kiarostami (featuring Khayam's second string quartet, performed by Kronos Quartet), "Tajrish Unfinished" (2012) by Pourya Azarbayjani, and "Two Cold Meals for One" (2009) by Amir Azizi. Khayam's music was selected and used as original score in British Museum's video survey of the "Digitalization of Persian Archives" (2012).

He is the laureate of "Queen Elisabeth International Composition Competition" (2013) for his piano concerto "Before the Dream is Over", first prize award winner of "Franz Schubert and Modern Music International Composition Competition" (2011) for his trio "I Waited for You in Rain", finalist of Mauricio Kagel International Composition Competition (2013), Winner of "Culture and Music Critic's Prize: Tehran's best album of the year" for "Tatari" (2007), and 4-star winner "Top of the World Albums" by Songlines (75th issue) for his album "All of You" (2011) as distinctive music of Middle East.

As a pianist Khayam has taken the task of premiering and recording works by contemporary classical composers of Iran, as well as those from other countries. This includes the world premiere of "Cantilena and Fantasia" and "Six Illuminations" by Dusan Bogdanovic (Serbia) appearing in the album "Prayers" (Doberman edition, 2012), complete anthology of piano music by Mohammadreza Darvishi including "Five Piano Pieces" (1979, world premiere) "Eghbal" (1982), and "Avaz-e Sahar" (1985, world premiere), and works from composers of the new generation with "Haykus for piano" (2012, world premiere) and "Metamorphosis" (2013, world premiere) by Ehsan Saboohi, "His Name is Man" (2010, world premiere) by Karen Keyhani, while his latest performances and recordings as a classical pianist include duo sonatas from Franck, Prokofiev, Piston, Martinu, Bridge; duo works from Roussel, Georges Hüe, Artur Avanesov, trios by Debussy, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich, and concerti from Mozart, Brahms, Sibelius, Grieg, Ravel, Britten, Barber, and Shostakovich.

Khayam holds a masters and a doctoral degree in composition from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music. He previously taught for six years (2006-2011) as faculty member in composition at Art University Tehran, and is currently working as an independent artist.

Hooshyar Khayam (b. 1978, London)

Education

- Doctor of Musical Arts, Composition (2005)College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati- Master of Music, Composition (2003)College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati- Bachelor of Music, Persian Music (1999)University of Art, Tehran- Associate Diploma, Piano Performance (1996)Trinity College of London